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The Burden of Pre-Clinical Learning Starting from as early as the commencement of the medical course, it had occurred to many of us that the numerous topics in the long and tedious pre-clinical curriculum were utterly unnecessary, or at best, of little significance for the proper diagnosis and treatment of the diseases we would be called upon to attend as doctors, if and when we qualified. What comes easily to mind is the perplexing formula for alpha-tocopherol that we were c

Journey to College To reach ‘College,’ as the Medical College was referred to by the medicos, my brother Perrin and I, having travelled by train from Lunawa to Bambalapitiya, had to board a bus to the Eye Hospital junction. At the Lunawa railway station where we embarked, among the few of us from the “Three Hundred Batch,” there were others from the senior batches, some displaying an air of supremacy, presumptuously assuming a higher rank solely by virtue of being longer in i

The Daily Journey For quite a few of us in the Three Hundred Batch, traveling by train from the Lunawa station to Bambalapitiya was the usual mode of conveyance to the Medical College. Although the journey was only about ten miles or so, it was rather tedious, but never short of interesting incidents. Apart from us, the other commuters included office workers, school children, and an assortment of other nomads. The Boarding Struggle As one’s anticipated train was spotted afar

Origins of the Picnic At its origin, the word picnic meant a ‘potluck,’ an entertainment at which each person contributed some dish to a common table. In contemporary usage, a picnic is simply a pleasure excursion where a meal is eaten outdoors, ideally in a beautiful landscape. It was this latter meaning that applied to the Three Hundred Batch, which, in the middle of its first year in College and following medical college tradition, decided on a ‘Batch Picnic’. Leaders and

The Language of the Rag Today, when the word ‘Web’ is no longer always understood to mean “something formed by, or as if by, weaving or interweaving,” as one dictionary defined it, and when ‘Mouse’ is not necessarily taken for granted as a rodent, we can sympathise with the uninitiated. Similarly, the terms ‘Pad’, ‘Net’, ‘Cookies’, or ‘Flash’ no longer conjure the meanings instilled in us through decades of English usage. In a similar vein, one can understand the confusion if

“Medicine is not for me.” This was the agonising certainty, shared during the first few weeks of our life in that hallowed institution by many of my three hundred odd fellow students of the largest batch ever to enter the Medical College. It is only with hindsight that we can confirm the validity of the conviction that the five-odd years we spent there, beginning October of 1960, were some of the most enjoyable years of our lives. The Overwhelming Tide of Knowledge On

Dedication These tales are dedicated to my brother Perrin, and all the other scholars of the Three Hundred Batch who are no longer with us. They are sadly missed and deeply mourned. It is my hope that the incidents and people recalled in these stories will rekindle our laughter, mischief, and memories of those unforgettable years.